(Updates prices)
By Fayen Wong
PERTH, April 21 (Reuters) - Oil held below $117 a barrel on
Monday, supported by worries of supply disruptions in Nigeria
and comments by OPEC that it saw no need to increase
production.
U.S. light crude for May delivery <CLc1> fell 4 cents to
$116.65 a barrel by 0623 GMT, after briefly touching a new
record high of $117.05 a barrel.
London Brent crude <LCOc1> was unchanged at $113.92.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
sees no need to raise oil production to counter high oil
prices, OPEC's President said on Sunday.
"No," said Chakib Khelil, who is also Algeria's Energy and
Mines Minister, when asked by reporters whether OPEC would
raise production. He added that raising production would have
no impact on prices as the market was well-supplied.
[]
Khelil also said a previous output increase had failed to
push prices down last year.
Separately, OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri said
oil prices could rise higher still should the U.S. dollar
weaken further.
Oil prices have jumped 22 percent since the start of the
year largely due to a tumbling U.S. dollar, geopolitical
tensions in the Middle East and unrest in major oil exporter
Nigeria.
A Nigerian rebel group said Friday it had sabotaged a major
oil pipeline operated by Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> and vowed
to step up attacks on oil installations. []
Officials at Shell, which is currently pumping 400,000
barrels per day below capacity in the OPEC nation due to
sabotage and security concerns, confirmed a small amount of
production had been shut in.
Workers at the port of Marseille voted on Sunday to suspend
a strike against dock reforms, an official of the CGT union
said on Sunday, but said a new 24 hour stoppage was planned for
Wednesday.
"We're looking more to irregular actions, less spectacular
but which allow us to keep going for a longer time," said
Pascal Galeote, secretary general of the Marseille port workers
section of the CGT.
The strike, which started on Thursday, has blocked traffic
at France's biggest oil port, Fos Lavera, and kept around 20
ships at the quayside on Sunday []. The Fos Lavera
port supplies crude to eight refineries in southeast France
that have a total capacity of about 800,000 barrels per day.
"The spate of incidents has reminded the markets of the
fragility of oil supplies," said Sydney-based David Moore, a
commodities analyst at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Comments from the U.S. government that it won't delay its
plan to buy oil this summer for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve
even if crude prices stay above $100 a barrel also provided
underlying support for oil prices [].
Crude oil speculators on the New York Mercantile Exchange
increased their net long positions last week, according to data
from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released Friday.
Net crude long positions rose to 66,526 in the week to
April 15, up from 64,699 in the week to April 8.
(Editing by Ben Tan)
